Here’s our FPL Defenders Tips article where we rank the Defenders and Goalkeepers based on last seasons stats. There’s commentary plus player suggestions which will help you with you FPL team drafts now. Also includes a you tube video which gives a bit more detail if you’d rather listen than read
FPL Defender Tips – Rankings For Last Season To Help Your FPL Team
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The schedule
The schedule uses 20/21 stats only.
The teams are ranked by defensive strength over the season only and is not adjusted for upcoming fixtures. I’ve given transfer suggestions below
A few comments before player suggestions
You may have seen my article which outlined players who could possibly miss GW1 due to rest and then match fitness required after the summers International tournaments. They are effectively the semi finalists from the Euros and Copa America plus those involved in the Olympics
I’ve not included any of these players or their possible short term replacements in the above schedule.
Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd are probably the potentially worst affected.
Chelsea potentially with Chilwell, James, Azpilicueta, Emerson, Christensen and Thiago Silva all potentially back late.
Man City could have Walker, Stones, Laporte, and Ederson back late
Man Utd could have Shaw, Maguire and De Gea back late
Player suggestions
Liverpool
Liverpool have excellent fixtures. For me Alexander Arnold is worth it for his attacking potential. Joe Gomez at £5.0m would be a cheap entry point as would Matip at the same price. Konate is £5.5m. Alisson wasn’t the starting GK at the Copa America for Brazil so it will be interesting to see if he’s back match fit in time for GW1
Brighton
It’s worth noting that Sanchez the GK was at the Euros for Spain but I’ve taken the view that he should be back given he was 3rd choice. It could do with monitoring though
Lamptey is a good attacking option if fit and £4.5m Ben White would also be a secure clean sheet option. If White leaves that’s a negative marker on the defence though. £5.0m Dunk is the attacking option
Leicester
Fofana at £4.5m is a great option but requires a back 3 to be involved given that £5.0m Soyuncu and £5.5m Evans are likely to be first choice. £5.5m Pereira and Castagne are the attacking options but I’m not sure whether they are worth the cost leap
Everton
£5.5m Digne is the best option and certainly better than the £5.0m options available. My nemesis of last season in Holgate is £4.5m and would be a cheap entry to the defence. You would think Benitez will strengthen his defence.
Pickford could possibly be back late and with Olsen now at Roma that does leave a bit of a GK hole early on
Aston Villa
GK Martinez at £5.5m could be late back as could Mings both of which would certainly weaken the defence if they do. The first 3 fixtures are very good in Watford, Newcastle and Brentford though and that’s the attraction.
If Mings is to miss 3 games which seems unlikely then £4.5 Hause is a good very short term option with set piece attacking potential but it’s a pretty risky call to guess how long he could be a replacement for. No £4.5m defs are likely to start other than short term though and £5.0m Targett then becomes the best option.
Leeds
Leeds finished the season strong defensively recording the 6th best ranking for the last 10 or so fixtures. £4.5m Ayling is excellent value as a rotation option. £5.0m Firpo is the attacking option.
Watford
Watford had the best defence of the 3 promoted teams and £4.5m Femenia had reasonably good defensive stats. You can see my analysis of Watford here. The fixtures aren’t too bad either
The hunt for the £4.0m playing Defender and Goalkeeper
There are no obvious options for a playing £4.0m defender at the moment. I’ve put in Norwich’s Omobamidele as he did play games at the end of last season and Hanley did have an injury from the Euros which could make him a doubt.
There’s also no likely playing £4.0m Goalkeeper either. I guess Foster has the experience but he’s surely behind Bachmann and Gunn seems likely to be behind Krul as well
Preseason may change things though
The Defensive players fixture difficulty schedule
Here the teams are ranked by the ease of the attacking teams they face
20/21 clean sheets
Goalkeeper save % ranking for 20/21 from Fbref
You tube Video
If you want a bit more information or prefer to listen rather than read
Other posts
Attacking players fixture difficulty Schedule
Defensive players fixture difficulty schedule
Kev and Rob’s first draft teams
Andrew and Costas’ first draft teams
The FFGeek Tracker team (8k OR last season)
An overview of Promoted Norwich City
Players who could miss GW1 due to International tournaments
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